Wacky Races on Sopwith Way

For several hours on the evening of Saturday 30th September (7 to 10pm approx) ‘performance cars’ with souped up and extremely noisy engines were racing up and down Sopwith Way unchallenged. I have video and photos which I will post here later this week.

I reported these cars to the Rendall & Rittner concierge several times and they refused to take any action and told me a) that they been there and ‘there was no one there’, b) they were too busy to go again and c) that even if they did speak to the people concerned that they ‘would not want to leave’.! I said that this was unacceptable as it seemed they were point blank refusing to deal with the issue. The concierge seemed very angry and said that all he could do was to call the police – I said yes they should do that. The police were called after complaints from myself and several other residents.

It is quite clear that R&R do not have adequate traffic control in place on Sopwith Way and secondly that they have no plan or resources (such as security or patrol staff) for ‘invasions’ such as this.

It is a shame that this situation on Sopwith Way deteriorated to the point where the police had to get involved but although this was a very stressful evening I hope that this may wake R&R up to the fact that this is a real issue – there are not adequate measures in place to control access or speed to the road and their failure to do that is making life intolerable for many residents including me.

It is very clear to me that R&R are not fulfilling their responsibilities with regard to Sopwith Way and things need to change.

Now that these ‘petrol heads’ have come down Sopwith Way, paraded up and down for 3 or 4 hours and got away with it the will no doubt be back and there is nothing to stop them.

There is 24/7 CCTV on Sopwith Way, which unfortunately R&R do not use to do anything about speeding, they are well aware that speeding traffic is the norm on this road and yet choose to ignore it, despite the discomfort and harm to residents (which they have made no attempt to assess or consult about).

The noise and vibration from the traffic on Sopwith Way, due to Rendall & Rittner’s failure to control the traffic, has had a massive impact on me and many other residentst. This comes on top of years of disruption including the construction of storage depots on Sopwith Way without planning permission by Berkeley Homes.

The existing measures are a joke (e.g. two speed bumps along the whole of the road) and clearly do not work.
If you wish to make your views known to Rendall and Rittner call 0207 501 7600 or make a formal complaint at customerfeedback@rendallandrittner.co.uk

If you are not satisfied with the response you can escalate the complaint to the Property Ombudsman. https://www.tpos.co.uk/consumers/how-to-make-a-complaint